Wilfrid M. de Freitas - Bookseller

09/15/2026

The Second Series of Lady Adelaide Cadogan’s Illustrated Game of Patience (London, 1887, first edition) was published as a companion piece to the sixth edition of her first book of solitaire games published in 1874. This latter work is often credited with being the first published collection of such games in the English language, touching off a veritable boom of such titles in the late 19th century. This volume, which is significantly longer than its predecessor, contains 35 games, each accompanied by a colour plate showing the layout. The Preface tells us that “A large portion of these Patiences are taken from the German …”

I want to especially point out the first game in the book, “The Jubilee” — please note that this was published in the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee — which ends with the following:
“The final tableau, if the game is successful, represents the SOVEREIGN enthroned in the Heart of her people.
“The KINGS of the earth come from afar to do homage.
“The QUEENS stand on either side to do honour to the Jubilee.
“All KNAVES are expelled and fly from the QUEEN’S dominions.”
I’ll include a photo of the tableau for you to refer to …

Lady Adelaide Cadogan is mostly remembered for these books, and for being one of the train bearers at Victoria’s 1838 coronation (she would have been 18 at the time). A little digging also shows that she was the daughter of a sensational 1810 divorce case in which her parents were each named as correspondent in the other’s divorce, and who married almost immediately thereafter.

A near fine copy, with a touch of wear at corners and to black rule around board edges; a little foxing to first and last leaves, less so internally. CA$125 (plus GST and postage at cost). I doubt you’d find many of these in the e-versions of solitaire, but it would be fun to try to … message or [email protected].

09/13/2026

After some weeks off-line (relatively speaking), I thought we’d return to the books-of-the-day with a cookery book whose dust jacket evokes the old “Queen of Hearts” nursery rhyme. Eleanor M. Sproat’s Daily Cookery from Breakfast to Supper (London, 1923, first edition thus — see next paragraph) is a curiously uncommon little book, especially in its dust jacket. Published not long after the First World War, it was one of a number of titles aimed at a new generation of householders living without help and on tight budgets. Two notices, one in the Preface and one on the dust jacket, define the book better than I can:

Preface: “This book of recipes was originally published in aid of a local fund, inaugurated to introduce some ‘sweetness and light’ into rural life by improving the amenities of a Scottish village. … [It has] been enlarged and its copyright handed over, with the consent of the local committee responsible for the original production, to the present publishers, on the condition that a fixed percentage of the proceeds … shall be given to the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.”

Dust jacket: “This practical cookery book appeals particularly to the small household. It contains and exceptionally good selection of tested recipes of an inexpensive character. The sections devoted to Puddings and Cakes are a special feature.” What more need we add?

BTW — The author eludes me …

A fine copy of the book; very good, but scarce, dust jacket, with a little rubbing at folds, and some light chipping at spine ends and corners, and 3/4” closed tear at top of rear flap; light soiling therof. CA$95 (plus GST and postage at cost). Everything from haggis to currant buns, and much, much more, could be on your menu if you write [email protected] or send a message.

09/12/2026

The Montreal Antiquarian Book Fair is two weeks today. Get your tickets in advance at the link below, and beat the line on the day!

Le Salon du livre ancien de Montréal aura lieu les 26-27 sept. 2026 à Concordia, réunissant libraires du Québec et de l'Ontario.

09/12/2026

If you have a book (or two, or three …) that you’re curious about, why not bring it in. In the process you’ll support a great local library!

Wondering about the value of your special books?

Come to the Atwater Library’s BOOKS ROADSHOW on Wednesday, October 14 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.

Wilfrid M. de Freitas - Bookseller and Susan Ravdin will be in our Bookshop to give an expert opinion on the value of your books.

FEE $3 per book for our members and $5 per book for others. All proceeds go to the Atwater Library.

First come, first served. Everyone welcome.

08/17/2026

There are times when the title says it all, especially with those lengthy Victorian titles. Case in point: Instructions in Household Matters; or, The Young Girl’s Guide to Domestic Service (London, 1847, “The Third Edition”), which has the added title page information “With an Especial View to Young Girls Intended for Service on Leaving School.” “Written by a Lady” this anonymous book, illustrated with seven plates, does just what it says, in great detail, including spending two pages on “How to make a bed”, though only four on the section entitled “A Nursery Maid”. The whole is followed by several sketches of circumstances that may arise … the names have been changed to protect the innocent!

“The manual portrays the field as a serious profession for young women who wish to be both educated and trained to develop professional skills.” writes one academic webpage on domestic work books, “Virtuous behaviours are held as central to preparation for household service … The work provides guidance on the names and uses of objects found in the middle-class home and instruction on the performance of daily tasks. These include washing and maintenance, lighting of fires and the etiquette of serving at table.”

This copy bears a circular red stamp on the title page and last page of text that reads “BY GRANT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL OF EDUCATION” marking it as a book purchased with government funds to further the education of the poorer classes. The council, founded in 1839, was at the forefront of the UK government’s taking a role in the schools of the nation, from providing grants for library collections, school construction, teacher training, and the like to establishing government-run inspections of those schools.

A very good copy, in inexpensively produced blind-stamped cloth, now rubbed and sunned; hinges weak and endpapers toned; stamps as noted above. CA$175 (plus GST and postage at cost). Reading this I see I have lots to learn … Send a message or an email ([email protected])

08/13/2026

We recently attended two different “Shakespeare in the Park” productions (‘The Winter’s Tale’ and ‘Richard III’, both unusual choices for general consumption) which led me to today’s BOTD, Life Portraits of William Shakespeare (London, 1864, first edition), by J. Hain Friswell. We first noticed the book because it was illustrated with original, mounted photographic prints by Joseph Cundall of various images of the Bard, making up what the subtitle calls “A history of the various representations of the poet, with an examination into their authenticity.” Then, we found it to be a deep dive into the history of each of the portraits that Friswell deemed likely representations of the historical man: the Chandos, Felton, Droeshout, Stratford, and Jansen portraits, the Stratford Funerary Bust — each of these are pictured — and the death mask.

“It is better for us to have no memorials, rather than to have them foolishly done …” writes the author. To that point, Friswell goes on to discuss those he questions and/or dismisses in the chapters dealing with “less-authenticated portraits”, “asserted portraits”, “portraits of doubtful authenticity” and “forgeries”. Through it all we find a distinctly Victorian POV coming through:
— It is the lean, hungry-looking Shakespeare who was the genius; the portly middle-aged man was too complacent to have authored the great plays and poems.
— Two portraits that support one another are each re-worked copies of the other, or lesser versions of some greater, as yet undiscovered, portrait.
— A certain amount of physiognomy (the pseudoscience whereby one’s nature is discernible in one’s features) come through, especially in the discussion of the death mask.

A word (or two) about the author and photographer. The former was an writer (novels essays, histories, biographies, etc.), editor and anthologist; the latter a writer, publisher and pioneering photographer, and founding member of the Royal Photographic Society of London. Both were interested in the betterment of youth through the improvement of the books, magazines and stories available to children and young people, which leads me wonder if this is how they came to know each other.

A very good copy, with gilt nice and bright; a touch rubbed, with a few small abrasions at extremities; some foxing, including near the photos; photo of Ann Hathaway’s Cottage extending slightly at fore edge; ex-library, with bookplate, small accession number and date due slip. CA$100 (plus GST and postage at cost). Today’s scholars doubt that any portrait was done from a life-sitting, which is your favorite? Find out … message or email, please ([email protected]).

08/08/2026

Jipping Street: Childhood in a London Slum (New York, 1928, first edition*) is author Kathleen Woodward’s re-telling of her early years, with a father who “fell sick with an illness which left him half invalid for the rest of his life” and a mother who “became the stay and support of the home” as a cleaner and washer woman, living in an area with factories, breweries, wharves, tenements and a hospital. We meet those she knew in the neighborhood and in the factories she worked in from the age of 12 or 13 — Crazy Kat with her “big head and stupid face” or Lil Reeds who “seemed to dance as she walked” or Miss Doremus, her fellow trade unionist who “was exquisitely small and frail …”
(* Although a British subject and author, it seems the New York edition preceded the London, though it may only have been briefly; the US edition has a tipped-in frontispiece by Leon Underwood, while the UK’s is by John Nash.)

Scholars of the working poor and their lives cite this book fairly often but, as one pointed out, that while it “appears to be the self-portrait of a factory girl’s upbringing in the district of Bermondsey, London,” it is really reset as “a ‘fictional’ autobiography in which ‘truth and order do net seem to matter in the same way.’” In other words, Woodward has used the facts of her life and memories to create a somewhat-fictionalized sense of the world she grew up in — still, it seems to reflect the reality of the time and place fairly accurately.

Woodward left her life of poverty, factory work and unionism for life as an author and journalist. A New York Time review of the book reads, in part: “It is hard to dissociate this book, with its grim reality and passionate feeling, from the personality of its author, who was known three years ago in London as a brilliant young journalist, who had been for several years on the staff of one of the daily papers. With the publication of her ‘Queen Mary of England’ last year came considerable recognition, and a definite break from the routine of newspaper life.”

A very good copy, with coated-paper label on front rubbed, and on spine rubbed and chipped, both affecting titling; very small tear at top of front free endpaper; contents clean and tight; no dust jacket. CA$30 (plus GST and postage at cost). To learn about the lives of these fascinating, if down-trodden people, write [email protected], or send us a message.

08/03/2026

If you’re familiar with 19th century literature, especially in Britain, you’ll know about the various journals that published adventures and novels in several parts across months — it is said that people would line up at W.H. Smith’s stores in order to get the latest installment of a Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins or Elizabeth Gaskell. One such magazine, Chambers’s Journal (London and Edinburgh, 1903, sixth series or Vol. VI), had roots that reached back to 1832, when it was founded as Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal by brothers William and Robert Chambers (William originally as editor, Robert writing most of the copy). Although this volume, comprised of the issues offered between December 1902 and November 1903 and bound in the publishers original cloth, does not contain works by any household name, it is filled with fascinating articles on all sorts of subjects.

A look at the table of contents will give you an idea of the spread of topics covered — titles are grouped into sections: Tales and Stories, Articles of Instruction and Entertainment, Poetry, The Month: Science and Arts, and Extra Christmas Number Contents. Pulling one from each we get …
The Pearl Necklace. By James Workman
Manitoba—In the Prairie Province. By the Rev. John Wilson
To a Gaelic Air
Fire Prevention
and
A Veteran’s Ghost Story. By the Author of ‘The Attack on the Farm’

William and Robert Chambers were the sons of a cotton manufacturer who, when forced into bankruptcy, moved his family to Edinburgh. William, the elder, was apprenticed to a bookseller, while his brother, an omnivorous reader and student, was able to continue his education for a few more years. Both rose to influential prominence in Edinburgh, and both became members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1860 and 1840 respectively). William seems to have been more business and politically minded, while Robert was the more scholarly, writing many titles of Scottish, historic or scientific interest — his most controversial was 1844’s ‘Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation’, a work that spoke of evidence for “transmutation”, essentially that everything from the cosmos to creatures evolved over time, though he did not venture a causal system.

A fine copy, gilt bright; minor foxing to edges, and a bit of dusting to contents pages. CA$25 (plus GST and postage at cost). Mom would have called this “a bathroom book” … perfect for dipping into for a few minutes at a time! It can be yours; you need only write … message or [email protected].

07/31/2026

The science of color — something I’m particularly interested in — can be looked at from many angles, including that covered in Sir John Herbert Parson’s An Introduction to the Study of Colour Vision (Cambridge, 1924, second edition). In three sections the author covers “The Chief Facts … of Normal Color Vision”, “… of Color Blindness” and, “… of the Theories of Vision” that were circulating at the time, the last of which required a firm grounding in the first two sections. It was published as part of the Cambridge Psychological Library, “a series of books dealing with the various subjects which may come within the field of Psychology …”

An obituary of Parsons called this book “… a masterpiece in the factual presentation of the subject. Today it is still indispensable as a work of reference.” In this, his second major work (the first was his monumental, four volume ‘Pathology of the Eye’), he tries to make sense of the various theories of color vision that were circulating in the early 1900s using critical, unbiased, science-based reviews. It is quite technical but, once you realize that the author is one of the most celebrated authorities on ophthalmic pathology, and of the physiology and psychology of vision, that should come as no surprise.

Parsons’s established his reputation by recognizing that in order to truly understand the diseases of the eye, one had to study its physiology, biochemistry, and the aberrations that might lead to pathology. His first paper — on color blindness — presaged this book. It was followed by dozens of others papers; several books, including on the psychology of perception; and work on the importance of appropriate industrial illumination; as well as service in WWI.

A near fine copy, gilt nice and fresh; a little dusty overall; other than a little “thumbing” here and there, contents tight and clean. CA$55 (plus GST and postage at cost). Open your eyes, and read the book! [email protected], or message us …

07/26/2026

All right anglers, this one’s for you: Angling Sketches From a Wayside Inn (Edinburgh, 1911, first edition), is by Duncan Fraser, a relatively obscure individual, remembered mostly for his books on angling — though to be fair, there was also an author who wrote on Edinburgh history at around the same time, but I can’t tie them together — and for being the first President of the Edinburgh Saturday Angling Club (cf. the title page of ‘Riverside Rambles …’). This collection of angling essays was selected from Fraser’s contributions to various Scottish magazines, and are illustrated with eight b/w plates.

He opens his foreword with: “It is difficult to defend the writing of another book on Angling save in the conviction that the heart of mankind is ever the same, and still beats responsive to the changing moods of nature, be they stern or pensive … In the great things of life,” he continues, “heart speaks to heart; and in a fainter degree, so does the lover of streams and glens and hills to his brethren of kindred spirit.” Just a taste of the prose herein …

This copy has one major flaw: someone must have inscribed the front free endpaper, and whoever sent this copy out into the world didn’t want the inscription seen. They simply removed it by removing most of the ffep, leaving a one-inch stub behind. Shame, but there you go.

Although this looks like a near fine copy, because of the stub it is only very good; very light rubbing at edges and joints; minor foxing here and there. CA$50 (plus GST and postage at cost). Break out you rod and reel, and head to your favorite stream with this in your creel. Get it by writing a message or [email protected]